Living with Asperger's and student life By Olivia Sismey

Triad of Impairments http://www.slideshare.net/SusancMcCarthy/microsoft-kinect-and-autism

Autism Is… Be Normal Okay!!! A broken routine is fine That’s what I’ve been taught, Have to be social And change my way of thought. Have to get the joke, Cope with the noise, Know what people think, And chat about boys; So I won’t be me Cut me in half with a knife I need to fit in So this is my life…   Not knowing what to do, What to say, How to think, How to be, Why can’t I not just be me? Why can’t I dream the day away? NO. Must seem normal And live their way. Have to sit, And think, And learn, And behave.

General difficulties Looking people in the eye Understanding facial expressions Using facial expressions Having inflection in their voice Getting jokes idioms and sarcasm Taking most things literally Stress and difficulty coping New things or people or places Lack or understanding the unwritten social rules Only talk about their “special subject” Poor or lack of communication Change !

Quick Video https://vimeo.com/103896616?trackingid=KQUUI

Primary School Liked my year three teacher a lot Was OK Not that many friends in primary Was difficult to change from primary to secondary Last year was the worst Liked my year three teacher a lot

Secondary School Overall I liked high school Bit of Both Overall I liked high school Did have depression during beginning Not bullied all that much Made lots of friends and loved it in the end. Got better in later years especially classes Was good that it was so relaxed and friendly

University Living away Social Life Lecturers Stress Help!!

Social Life - Difficult to create and hard to maintain… Not many friends in primary Not many more in secondary Gets better in sixth form Life completely dashed, and starting all over again when coming to University. Not understanding the social rules and what I’m meant to do. Societies

Quick Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDGvquzn2k

Boyfriend or Girlfriend Relationships Creating and keeping Friends Family Meeting new People Boyfriend or Girlfriend

Emotions and Empathy Find emotions of others difficult to understand. Harder to express own emotion. There are unwritten social rules that determine what a person does when reacting to others emotions Find it difficult to put yourself in another's shoes and so find it harder to empathise.

Isolation The problems understanding emotions and social difficulties can make life quite isolating. Keep to yourself as don’t know how to act and new people and places make you anxious. Very hard to change but being alone is bad for your health. For me, it’s the worst and hardest part.

Everyone is different Starting an maintaining a conversation Talking on the phone Broken routine Difficulty in understating when other people speak Scraping paper and pencils Breaking rules Noticing the small details Light sensitive Nosie

What its like Don’t have poor imagination just find it difficult to visualise my imagination Poor concentration from so much overbearing sensory input Completely lost socially and worried your going to do something wrong Get stressed very easily and don’t really have many ways to get over it. Can often be very immature. Love certain things

What you can do Brain in hand – app Get to know what affects them. Try looking at things from new angles. What are they good at and how can this be used. Be patient.

Brain In Hand

Thank you Any Question?